:00:08. > :00:15.This is BBC World News Today with me, Zeinab Badawi.
:00:16. > :00:21.The UN gives the go-ahead to more French and African troops with a
:00:22. > :00:40.We speak and the EU's Humanitarian Affairs
:00:41. > :00:43.Further reform in the Catholic church - A new committee is set up
:00:44. > :00:49.Also coming up: A powerful storm hits north-western Europe.
:00:50. > :01:31.Thousands are evacuated as a huge tidal surge threatens
:01:32. > :01:34.doubling the number of troops in the Central African Republic to 1200 and
:01:35. > :01:38.African union forces are being posted to 3500. This comes after the
:01:39. > :01:41.UN Security Council backed their deployment earlier today. They have
:01:42. > :01:47.been given a stronger mandate to use all forced necessary to protect
:01:48. > :01:52.lives and an arms embargo has also been introduced. The trip's main
:01:53. > :01:57.mission is to protect civilians in the face of the violence which has
:01:58. > :02:01.been sweeping the Central African Republic. Today, 100 people have in
:02:02. > :02:04.killed in the capital, the ayes have it, the ayes have it, according to
:02:05. > :02:09.UN official. The latest chaos started when a Muslim rebel group
:02:10. > :02:14.overthrew the president, Francois Bozize, earlier this year. Since
:02:15. > :02:19.March, many civilians have been under attack and there has been
:02:20. > :02:25.retaliation from Chris Chin fighters. 400,000 people are thought
:02:26. > :02:27.to have fled their homes. That is about 10% of the population, but it
:02:28. > :02:32.is not known how many have died. about 10% of the population, but it
:02:33. > :02:36.is not known how many have died Our Africa correspondent says the
:02:37. > :02:39.conflict is taking on a religious tone.
:02:40. > :02:43.There has been heavy fighting for several hours this morning
:02:44. > :02:46.and there was real concern for the civilians caught up in this witty.
:02:47. > :02:48.This conflict has increasingly taken on a religious tone.
:02:49. > :02:50.We seem to see Christian groups attacking rebel
:02:51. > :03:00.This is happening as the French prepare for a huge new deployment
:03:01. > :03:12.of forces into this country to try and create stability here.
:03:13. > :03:14.Well, Andrew Harding has also been speaking to the
:03:15. > :03:16.UN Special Representative to the Central African Republic,
:03:17. > :03:19.who spelt out his fears about the actions of the former
:03:20. > :04:00.She's the European Commissioner for International Cooperation,
:04:01. > :04:03.Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response.
:04:04. > :04:50.instruments, not even mattresses on the beds. That means enormous
:04:51. > :05:00.suffering for people. Even in Bangui, it was not stable. We need
:05:01. > :05:04.to recognise that the Central African Republic has been abandoned
:05:05. > :05:05.by the world for decades. And the price people are paying is one of
:05:06. > :05:12.neglect of their own government. But neglect of their own government But
:05:13. > :05:16.also of the international community. On the humanitarian
:05:17. > :05:22.side, we have never left the central African republic. But it is not good
:05:23. > :05:28.enough to put plaster on the wounds of people. We have to engage. It is
:05:29. > :05:33.crucial to restore security, crucial to protect the population. At we
:05:34. > :05:37.also need to think of a longer term engagement to turn the fate of this
:05:38. > :05:43.country around. Commissioner, tell us what you have been doing. I know
:05:44. > :05:47.you have been sharing sessions. You have also been working close you
:05:48. > :05:53.with the United Nations humanitarian affairs boss, Valerie Amos. What
:05:54. > :06:04.exactly are you doing together at both the UN level and the EU? Our
:06:05. > :06:10.aim is to bring more resources and to have a much more systematic
:06:11. > :06:13.engagement in the fate of the Central African Republic. Since our
:06:14. > :06:20.joint visit with Valerie Amos, we have seen a quadruplet of
:06:21. > :06:24.humanitarian funding, and that allows crucial assistance to be made
:06:25. > :06:28.available to the population that has nothing. If I were born in the
:06:29. > :06:36.Central African Republic, my life expectancy would have been under 50
:06:37. > :06:43.years. 20% of kids there do not live to be five years of age. So we have
:06:44. > :06:49.a very dramatic situation even without the fighting, but the
:06:50. > :06:52.fighting has made this much worse. For the first time in the history of
:06:53. > :06:58.the country, Christians and Muslims are killing each other. That has
:06:59. > :07:02.never been the case before. So our effort has been directed to mobilise
:07:03. > :07:09.life-saving support, but more importantly, to bring attention to
:07:10. > :07:13.the plight of the local people. Are you satisfied that you have managed
:07:14. > :07:20.to get that international attention that you so desperately see the
:07:21. > :07:27.country needs? We are finally seeing the United Nations Security Council
:07:28. > :07:34.voting to restore stability, not a second too soon. I am grateful to
:07:35. > :07:38.France for taking the lead on that. We have also seen more resources in
:07:39. > :07:44.the country. But I want to stress again, when the cameras are off the
:07:45. > :07:58.Central African Republic, we must stay for years.
:07:59. > :08:02.With me in the studio is the French ambassador to the United Kingdom.
:08:03. > :08:05.What is the focus going to be of these French troops, their numbers
:08:06. > :08:10.now doubled in the Central African Republic? Firstly, we are
:08:11. > :08:16.intervening at the request of the international community. A
:08:17. > :08:21.resolution has been adopted unanimously in the Security Council.
:08:22. > :08:29.So we now have a clear mandate for an African operation in Bangui in
:08:30. > :08:30.the central African republic. The purpose is to restore peace and
:08:31. > :08:33.order and protect the civilians. purpose is to restore peace and
:08:34. > :08:35.order and protect the civilians The order and protect the civilians. The
:08:36. > :08:38.commission has said we are in a tragic situation in the Central
:08:39. > :08:46.African Republic, and our objective is to make sure we are going to
:08:47. > :08:53.support the African forces. That is the mission of the French forces. So
:08:54. > :08:55.you have in given the mandate under chapter seven of the United Nations
:08:56. > :08:59.to use all forced necessary to protect civilians? We will be
:09:00. > :09:07.abiding by the terms of the mandate, of course. We have a
:09:08. > :09:13.mission of stabilising the country and protect things civilians --
:09:14. > :09:19.protecting civilians. It is complete chaos, with killing everywhere. So
:09:20. > :09:24.we hope these forces will bring back peace and stability in order to lead
:09:25. > :09:29.to a political transition as well. So far, the French troops have been
:09:30. > :09:36.concentrated around the airport and French interests. Are they going to
:09:37. > :09:44.venture further afield? We will see. Obviously, securing the airport
:09:45. > :09:51.is a key dimension, protect the foreign community as well, and
:09:52. > :09:56.making sure we can secure the key roads. It is important to have these
:09:57. > :10:03.objectives, and the mission will be organised. Some people have observed
:10:04. > :10:07.that perhaps Bangui, the capital, can be secured, but it is the most
:10:08. > :10:13.remote areas where God knows what is going on. That is the real worry,
:10:14. > :10:19.that the troops will not go that far, because you need around 9000
:10:20. > :10:22.troops. You are right, we have had killings all around the country. The
:10:23. > :10:28.killings all around the country The Central African Republic is twice
:10:29. > :10:33.the size of the UK, with only 4 5 million inhabitants. That is why a
:10:34. > :10:36.key dimension will be to make sure the main roles are secure. But for
:10:37. > :10:41.the rest of it, you are right. Killings and riot are taking place
:10:42. > :10:49.all around the country. So the mission will be a very important
:10:50. > :10:55.one. The forces have the support of the international community. All the
:10:56. > :11:01.European countries are mobilised under this important mandate. We are
:11:02. > :11:06.all together to make sure it will be a success. Your Foreign Minister has
:11:07. > :11:14.said the country is on the verge of genocide. Is that the case? Well,
:11:15. > :11:21.they said it was a risk of genocide. There have been killings
:11:22. > :11:31.all around the country, and we need to make the violence stop.
:11:32. > :11:34.To Yemen now, where a series of deadly attacks at
:11:35. > :11:37.the defence ministry have left 9 people dead and many more injured.
:11:38. > :11:41.A suicide car bomb blew up at the gates of the complex in Sanaa's Bab
:11:42. > :11:44.al-Yaman district while people were heading to work.
:11:45. > :12:02.The BBC's Shaimaa Khalil reports from Sanaa.
:12:03. > :12:05.A suicide car bomb blew up at the gates of the complex in Sanaa's Bab
:12:06. > :12:45.al-Yaman district while people were heading to work.
:12:46. > :12:47.scene holds up a bit of shrapnel. Some remains, he says. The suicide
:12:48. > :12:50.bombing comes at a critical time here. The government is currently in
:12:51. > :12:56.talks with different political parties to draw a road map for
:12:57. > :13:01.Yemen's future. This is a city in a state of high alert. Checkpoints,
:13:02. > :13:04.armoured vehicles everywhere you go. Security is Yemen's biggest
:13:05. > :13:09.challenge and the government wanted to send a message that at least it
:13:10. > :13:19.was in control of the capital. But today's explosion showed that this
:13:20. > :13:22.is far from the case. The reputation of the Roman Catholic
:13:23. > :13:26.Church has been badly damaged by years of scandal of child sexual
:13:27. > :13:30.abuse. The Pope has signalled that he wants to do something about this
:13:31. > :13:34.and he has called on the article community to tackle sexual abuse of
:13:35. > :13:37.children in the Catholic Church as well as offer help to victims.
:13:38. > :13:41.Critics point out that the announcement comes just days after
:13:42. > :13:44.the Vatican refused a request from the United Nations for information
:13:45. > :13:52.on alleged use by priest 's, nuns or monks. The father has decided to
:13:53. > :14:01.establish a commission for the protection of children so that the
:14:02. > :14:08.commission will be able to advise the father about protection of
:14:09. > :14:37.children and the Pastoral care for the victims of abuse.
:14:38. > :14:47.They have proved in the past that they have wanted to keep control of
:14:48. > :15:07.any type of any investigation. In 1994, 2001 and 2007 2009, 2010, they
:15:08. > :15:36.have had papal letter reinforced... He does not seem to be able to let
:15:37. > :15:42.go of control over the issue. What he should be doing is hand control
:15:43. > :15:50.over to independent authorities such as the police, and civil authorities
:15:51. > :15:54.in each country. He should be directing the priests and bishops
:15:55. > :16:01.through the world to hand over allegations of abuse to civil
:16:02. > :16:08.authorities, rather than the secrecy of the canon law system. If you look
:16:09. > :16:12.at the allegations of sexual abuse, there has been a great deal of
:16:13. > :16:16.emphasis placed on the judicial aspects of all this, and what it
:16:17. > :16:24.means to the Catholic church. Now you need an emphasis on the Pastoral
:16:25. > :16:29.and spiritual a lot more. Why should both issues not run side-by-side? We
:16:30. > :16:36.do not know how many priests, how many ships have colluded to cover up
:16:37. > :16:39.child abuse cases in the past. We have not had access to the
:16:40. > :16:48.documentation which is kept by the Vatican, and was overseen for more
:16:49. > :16:49.than 20 years by the previous Pope. David Greenwood, we have to leave it
:16:50. > :17:28.there. all rail services have been shut
:17:29. > :17:31.down in Scotland, and 64,000 homes in Scotland are without power
:17:32. > :17:48.because of the disruptions by the storm. The storm is heading towards
:17:49. > :18:01.the East and Northern Europe. Parts of the Netherlands are on red
:18:02. > :18:07.alert. More than 80 for KLM flights have been cancelled from Amsterdam
:18:08. > :18:13.airport. I mentioned a storm surge. What exactly is that? Well, for a
:18:14. > :18:17.storm surge to occur you need several elements to come into play
:18:18. > :18:20.at once. You need a deep area of low pressure, around that some strong
:18:21. > :18:23.winds swirling and independent of them both you need some high tides
:18:24. > :18:27.around the coast, and that is what has been occurring. On Thursday, a
:18:28. > :18:31.deep area of low pressure passes to the north of the UK in the direction
:18:32. > :18:34.of Northway. Low pressure systems are effectively zones of rising air.
:18:35. > :18:38.The air is rising, producing rain clouds. If you think about it, if
:18:39. > :18:41.the air is rising at any great rate you are lifting a little bit of
:18:42. > :18:46.weight off the Earth's surface and the impact is greatest over open
:18:47. > :18:49.water. It is around the centre of the low-pressure system where the
:18:50. > :18:53.air is rising you get a bulge forming, where the sea level rises
:18:54. > :18:56.higher than the sea around it. Low-pressure strong winds then push
:18:57. > :19:00.that bulge in the direction of the coast, and in the North Sea that can
:19:01. > :19:03.have a huge impact. Certainly on Thursday into Friday, strong winds
:19:04. > :19:05.through the North Sea pushing the bulge further south. It meets the
:19:06. > :19:09.land straightaway across Holland, but between East Anglia and the
:19:10. > :19:12.Netherlands you get a narrowing of the North Sea, squeezing the water
:19:13. > :19:27.into a tight space causing the levels of the sea to rise even more.
:19:28. > :19:30.That is why, not only are we seeing high sea levels across much of the
:19:31. > :19:33.eastern coast, it is towards East Anglia and the south-east, that
:19:34. > :19:36.squeezing of the North Sea, where sea levels will have the greatest
:19:37. > :19:38.impact and perhaps cause the greatest amount of flooding. Amount
:19:39. > :19:53.of flooding. Matt Taylor explaining what we are
:19:54. > :19:59.experiencing in northern Europe Two months ago, tragedy struck when a
:20:00. > :20:07.boat of asylum seekers overturned near Italy. Now the European union
:20:08. > :20:14.has got the proposals to stop another event from happening.
:20:15. > :20:29.Matthew Price report from Sicily. To find the dead, you must first
:20:30. > :20:36.drive into the heart of Sicilian territory. Emotional, yes. To the
:20:37. > :20:39.cemetery at San Biagio Platani, where Alem Mariah, an Eritrean
:20:40. > :20:55.living in Germany, has come to mourn at the grave of his brother.
:20:56. > :20:58.Bimnet Araya, 37 years old, once a basketball player for the Eritrean
:20:59. > :21:11.basketball squad. Why did he want to come to Europe?
:21:12. > :21:13.They tried to go out from Eritrea to have a life in Europe or other
:21:14. > :21:41.countries, but their life ended When their boat sank, 157 survived.
:21:42. > :21:44.366 did not. So, Sicily's tombs are being used to store whole families.
:21:45. > :21:45.Some have pictures placed here by relatives living in Europe who could
:21:46. > :21:54.come. Most have simply a number. Their
:21:55. > :22:00.families cannot get here to identify them. It's the anonymity in death
:22:01. > :22:06.which is so sad here, and, along with those above ground, others have
:22:07. > :22:11.been buried beneath it. These are their numbers. They are being washed
:22:12. > :22:16.away as if they are already being forgotten. When the ship sank, the
:22:17. > :22:19.Italian government promised it would do all it could to help the
:22:20. > :22:22.relatives of the relative of the victims, yet weeks later there is
:22:23. > :22:25.still very little progress being made on getting these people back
:22:26. > :22:32.home for the proper burial they deserve. A massive DNA testing
:22:33. > :22:36.programme is needed. Alem has the money to come here and do this, but
:22:37. > :22:40.he says the whole process is painfully slow. The problem is, the
:22:41. > :22:47.Italian government is not ready to help us. The situation is very, very
:22:48. > :22:57.difficult, and they know that also, but I don't think they are ready to
:22:58. > :23:01.help me quickly. The government would not comment. Alem believes
:23:02. > :23:04.local officials are doing what they can, but for those whose relatives
:23:05. > :23:14.died out in the Mediterranean, it's not enough.
:23:15. > :23:26.The tragedy and the aftermath of the tragedy in Italy. Fans of Japanese
:23:27. > :23:32.food note that there is more to Japanese food than sushi. You will
:23:33. > :23:40.be delighted to know that Japan s cuisine has been awarded cultural
:23:41. > :23:45.heritage status by UNESCO. The only other country recognised in that way
:23:46. > :23:49.is France. In Japan, great care and attention is taken to preparing the
:23:50. > :24:22.food. It is a process known as... Washoku. We are so excited. Did I
:24:23. > :24:34.say it right? What does that mean? It means Japanese food. There is a
:24:35. > :24:38.whole thing behind it. It is not. It takes a long time to train and also
:24:39. > :24:45.to care about it, and all of us. takes a long time to train and also
:24:46. > :24:54.to care about it, and all of us We are looking here at this beautiful
:24:55. > :24:57.plate, this bowl of sushi that you brought us. The presentation is
:24:58. > :25:08.remarkable. That is an important thing. It is very important. We
:25:09. > :25:21.enjoy appearance, and we wanted to feel like summer how do you stay so
:25:22. > :25:25.slim? It is satisfying. It is incredibly healthy food as well. It
:25:26. > :25:30.takes a very long time to prepare. This bowl here of various bits of
:25:31. > :25:40.sushi, how long will that take to make? It is simple to make, but you
:25:41. > :25:50.need to soak it in the rice for a couple of hours. It comes down, with
:25:51. > :25:54.a vinegar mixture. You make the sushi rice. Then on the other hand,
:25:55. > :26:06.you have two prepare the sushi, fresh fish... The fish has to be
:26:07. > :26:16.fresh. It is unique. It is not like anybody other food in Asia. It is
:26:17. > :26:24.about art. We so care about where the food comes from, how to present.
:26:25. > :26:30.It is all cultures. It takes quite a long time. What do you like to eat
:26:31. > :26:33.other than Japanese food? Peter? long time. What do you like to eat
:26:34. > :26:40.other than Japanese food? Peter X Mac I like all types of food X Mac
:26:41. > :26:45.pizza and chips is my X Mac I don't believe that. Yuki Gomi, thank you.
:26:46. > :26:50.That is it from world news today. From ask, it is more on -- it is
:26:51. > :27:02.goodbye. Now the weather. After a day of ferocious gales
:27:03. > :27:09.across Scotland, coastal communities around East Anglia are experiencing
:27:10. > :27:15.a threat of serious flooding. It will be making its journey to the
:27:16. > :27:16.south here, across parts of the north coast of East Anglia, down